Sleep Attitudes Are Associated with Adolescent Sleep Hygiene and Sleep Health

Abstract

Objectives: Most U.S. adolescents do not obtain enough sleep, despite its importance for everyday functioning. Preliminary research in adults shows attitudes toward sleep (i.e. viewing it as beneficial and worth prioritizing) predict sleep health. However, little is known about these attitudes in adolescents. This study examines adolescents’ attitudes about the benefits and importance of prioritizing sleep and how these attitudes relate to sleep health. Methods: A nationwide sample of 649 adolescents (ages 13–18; 79.7% female; 45.2% white) from the United States completed surveys assessing sociodemographics, sleep health, and sleep attitudes. Results: Adolescents reported positive attitudes toward benefits of sleep, but did not report positive attitudes toward prioritizing time for sleep. Adjusting for sociodemographics, more positive sleep attitudes predicted longer sleep duration, better sleep quality, shorter sleep latency, earlier sleep timing (earlier bedtimes and earlier midsleep), and better sleep hygiene but not social jetlag. Gender moderated the association between sleep attitudes and sleep quality; positive sleep attitudes predicted better sleep quality for girls, but not for boys. The association between positive sleep attitudes and earlier weekend bedtimes was stronger for Hispanic than non-Hispanic youth. Conclusions: This is among the first studies to examine adolescent sleep attitudes. Findings suggest that attitudes are a possible modifiable target to improve teen sleep health.